Enough lithium to meet global demand for decades could potentially be lying within a former supervolcano at the Oregon and Nevada border, Jalopnik reports.
Recent research has suggested that McDermitt Caldera could hold more than 132 million tons of lithium, which could make it the largest lithium deposit in the U.S.–and potentially the globe.
That amount of lithium would surpass what is currently the largest known lithium deposit in the world: the Atacama Salt Flat in Bolivia, according to the Independent.
McDermitt could produce 12 times more lithium than the Atacama Salt Flat, and due to how the caldera formed after a massive volcanic eruption 16 million years ago, it could be possible to extract that lithium in a way less invasive and less labor-intensive.
According to a study released by scientists in Science Advances, a sustainable supply chain that emits less carbon energy requires high-grade domestic lithium resources as well as a low waste:ore strip ratio.
The volcano-sedimentary lithium resources that would be found in McDermitt are more likely to be “shallow, high-tonnage deposits with low waste:ore strip ratios,” the scientists wrote.
The Bureau of Land Management is now seeking public comment on the proposal to expand lithium exploration in the McDermitt Caldera, but area tribes such as the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone and Burns Paiute have opposed the plans, citing that it would be trespassing on sacred land, Oregon Public Broadcasting has reported.
